For Immediate Release

Los Angeles, CA

February 27, 2007

Press Contact:

David Sommers

Phone: (213) 974-1095

Fax: (213) 626-6941

DSommers@lacbos.org

Los Angeles County and South Bay Cities Partner to Keep Trash Out of the Bay

A project to install 460 trash catch basins in the Cities of Hermosa Beach, Inglewood, Manhattan Beach, Rancho Palos Verdes, Santa Monica, and West Hollywood has been approved by the Board of Supervisors. The trash collectors will be placed at the openings of catch basins along the curb, partially blocking the openings to prevent most trash from entering the storm drain system.

The installation of the devices is underway and is scheduled to be completed in April 2007. The Los Angeles County Department of Public Works will finance the cost of the devices and installation, estimated at $1,640,000 ($1 million from Proposition 50, Santa Monica Bay Restoration Grant funds; $640,000 from County of Los Angeles Flood Control District funds). Once the installation is complete, each city will be responsible for maintaining the devices within their respective jurisdictions.

“This is an important investment in our stormwater and runoff technology,” said Supervisor Knabe. “These catch basins will keep trash and debris from entering the storm drain system and ultimately the Santa Monica Bay.”

“There is no single solution for protecting water quality at our local beaches,” said Public Works Director Don Wolfe. “It takes a partnership between local government and the public we serve. That partnership begins with an individual’s choice to put litter where it belongs—in the trash can or recycling bin.”

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